Answer:
The main difference between past simple and past continuous tense is that:
- we use<u> past simple tense</u> when something happened at some time in past. We also commonly use this tense with past time adverbs (yesterday, last night, two days ago, etc.)
For example: John called his friend yesterday.
- we use <u>past continuous tense</u> if an action occurred in the past and <u>lasted for a period of time.</u>
Example: I was reading a book all day yesterday.
We used past continuous tense because the action of reading lasted for some time (a whole day in this case).
The exposition of "The Gift of the Magi" is the narrator introducing the young, struggling couple, and the rising action features Della wishing to buy her husband a nice gift. The climax of the story is Della deciding to sell her hair to buy her husband a watch strap. The falling action and resolution is the exchange of gifts, in which Della realizes her husband sold his watch for her gift.
